By now, if you keep up with Astronomy news even a little bit, you’ve heard of the strange white spot on the surface of Ceres, within a large crater in the dwarf planet’s northern hemisphere. As the science mission of the Dawn spacecraft continues, we are starting to see new images of the surface in unprecedented detail, and finally we have a closer view of the mystery spot. Is the new series of images enough to determine its origin? See for yourself. The only thing clear from these new images is that what once appeared to be a single or...
Solar Flares happen, especially during the current peak of solar activity. Here’s a cool video from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO).
That’s right it is not always Polaris. Over a human lifetime Polaris will always be our north star, but in the year 14,000, it will be the bright star Vega. This is due to the tilt of the Earth’s axis, which precesses like a spinning top, albeit much more slowly, over a 32,000 year period.
The Andromeda Galaxy is the closest large spiral to our own Milky Way, and the only major Galaxy moving toward us. Turns out its on a direct collision course, but we still have 3.5 Billion years to prepare, so its not exactly pressing news. On the plus side, studying Andromeda allows us to infer properties of more distant galaxies, and it gives us a map of what our own Milky Way Galaxy may look like. Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have discovered a giant halo of gas around Andromeda, and the Milky Way may have a similar one. By...
Massive star clusters can pop into existence in a matter of a few million years, a very short period of time on astronomical time scales. They consist of hundreds or thousands of massive, bright, hot stars that will live relatively short lives of a few hundred millions of years. Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA), astronomers have discovered a vanishingly rare molecular cloud of highly dense gas, containing no stars. It is poised to become a massive star cluster, and we found it in its infancy. “We may be witnessing one of the most ancient and extreme modes of...
As we push the limits of our technology, we naturally will find the biggest, the brightest, the smallest, the most extreme, and of course the most distant objects in the universe. We are at the time in history where we are beginning to see the edges of our universe in unprecedented detail. Eventually will will stop finding the biggest, brightest, and most distant, after which point our technology will serve to improve our precision and allow us to peer within these unique objects. Astronomers have used this incredible technology to discover the most distant galaxy in the universe, forming only...
I feel this will be a recurring theme with my posts, especially for those who read my blog on a regular basis. I love Pluto and am fascinated by new horizons. Its like a kitten chasing a ball of yarn. But with so many new possibilities popping up with Pluto as the new horizons rendezvous draws near, its hard to contain my excitement at the prospects of great science. The latest photo taken from just under 100 Million Km distant, shows some surface features for the first time. The features are interpreted as broad surface features, some are brigt and...
The Dawn space craft has finally begun its science phase after settling into a 13,500 Km orbit around the dark dwarf planet Ceres. It took some manoeuvring to get it in the right spot, but now it has begun mapping the surface as it slowly orbits once every two weeks. A lovely mosaic image from the space craft is the latest jaw-dropping picture of the former asteroid. Like a great shot of the Lunar terminator, by seeing the shadows created by the light from the Sun, we can get a sense of depth of the heavy craters on the surface....
The two major solar observatories, SDO and SOHO, both saw a massive solar event in exceptional clarity. Starting April 28th, a huge solar plasma loop broke away and was blasted millions of miles out into space from the surface of the Sun! This massive outburst of energy comes during the peak of the 11-year solar activity cycle, and shows us just how incredible and energetic our home star can be. Solar filaments like the one that broke away are long chains of solar plasma, a state of matter where super-heated gas becomes stripped of its electrons. The plasma filaments follow...
Our Solar System is so much more than just the eight planets that inhabit it. One of the things I learned a bit later in my career as an astronomer (my teenage years; been doing this for awhile) is how unique and diverse the natural satellites are. Our own moon seems somewhat tame, and it’s easy to think the same of all moons. Many of them are boring quiescent rocks with little more scientific value than asteroids, but the largest hide deep and profound secrets that we are just starting to unlock. Four moons in our solar system are larger...
